Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1887-03-21
A WOMAN OF PROMINENCE .
Mrs. Martha j. Lamb on the Liter
airy Work of Her Sex.

airy Work of Her Sex.
NEW YORK, March l9.-''Not in wom-
ans column; the time has gone by, If,
indeed, it ever existed, for the special
consideration of sex in the discussion of
any writer's serious doings or thinkings
or sayings"
HAD been asking Mrs. Martha J. Lamb,
the editor of the Magazine Of American
History, for some account of her methods
OF work, and for the reasons that led her
to the study of history, branch OF
knowledge in which little original re-
search has been credited to women, as
comp AIRED with their success in other 1T
erary fields.
Mrs Lamb is Que OF the least talked
about of women in proportion to the solid
work she has done, and this is due al.
| most altogether to the spirit IL which her
work has been performed, spirit that
belongs to her in common, an observer
will find. with the vast majority OF the
really hard working literary women OF
| the day.
! There is no sex In good work, Mrs.
Julia Ward says; a sentiment that have
heard repeated in almost Identical
phrase by Jennie June. alt all depends
| on the individual man or the individual
woman, not on the SEX" was Miss Mary
| l.. Booths response when asked about
| literary success In New York no long
time ago.
There is no one thing" Mrs. Lamb
went on, THAT to my thinking can hurt a
wOman's work more than the special plea
OF femininity. A creditable accom-
| plshment by one sex has reasonable
chance OF standing for exactly what 1t is
worth. Where is the use of the hue and
| cry OF see, here is woman who has
done what no woman has done before"
| There are sure to be people in abundance
| who can measure the achievement at
something like it's real value. If the
woman is let alone they Will do so. They
may put her on a pinnacle that is not
very high, but at least it will have some
! thing like a solid foundation under 1t.
| She will have standing ground that she
| need not be ashamed Of, and from 1t II she
| has the ability can climb higher, A Wom-
man has nothing TO fear from an honest,
! unprejudiced measurement. She has
! great deal TO fear from puffery. Suppose
| piece Of fairly good, respectable work
| is swelled, because woman has done 1t,
to something like three or four times its
| just size and value. The result may be
| pleasant enough at the minute, but the
| final judges, the people who really know,
| will lit their eyebrows and look at tie &C
| cOmplishment In totally different spirit
! from what they would other wise nave
| shown. When that blown up bubble is
| prIcked, the result will look TO them by
! force of contrast good deal smaller than
| il might or ought to have done. Instead
of getting credit for more than she de-
! serves, the woman will really get far less
! than is her due. She is not on solid foot
! ing, aud her critics will, in the bottom Of
! their hearts at least, make 50 much al
lOwance for froth and moonshine that
they will not in the end credit her with
half her due"
But a woman's special disadvan-
| tages, do not they sometimes call for
spec al allowances?'' L asked her. They
do not make what she has done any the
more important, but they do make it the
| more credItable that she should have done
| it,"
That is DR.. Johnson over again; dog
| does not dance well, but one is surprised
that he dances at all. There NAV be
some truth in it sometimes: but it is as
well to say as little about that phase of
the question as may be. Women's work,
as we'll as mems work, must stand on its
actual value in the end, and one might as
| well apply the true test first as last. If
a woman wishes to do anything, her only
course is to say little about it, but 20
ahead and do it. Women sometimes
make their own obstacles. IL tney an
!
about to do is unusual, that few women
before them have tried 1t, they find them
selves stared at, watched, perhaps oD-
posed. They have apprised the public of
their intentions, and the public feels it,
| sell invited to comment. to approve or dis
approve. If they bad said nothing about
the character OF their proceedings, taken
their naturalne5s and their propriety for
granted, the world would have been too
| tn lttanrInn fhpm
or their dOings. They might have gone
on their way unmole sted. and perhaps re-
| celved a tam amount OF courtesy and
help on the road. The world Is not i'll
| disposed toward a woman, and Is more
likely than not to give her subs autial en-
couragement if she takes it III the right
way"
Mrs. Lamb most certainly seems to
have found the right way she spoke of.
she has never paraded her claims to rec
ognition on the score OF sex or other
wise. Her history OF New York city,
published some three or four years ago,
was fifteen years in preparation, and was
put before the public as modestly as if it
were the work of day; its author siren
uously resisting the reception that
SOrosis persisted in rendering. and keeping
altogether in the background of her book.
The history undertook her, she says
not she the history. IT had been suggest
ed that an adequate account OF New
York was wanting and that editors and
scholars would gladly welcome such a
work. In an idle hour, when brought to
the city for three orfour months for medi-
cal treatment, she began to look over the
material that could be collected at the
libraries, and in no long time had out
| lined sketch that might have been q con-
venient enough depository of the CLEAN
ings OF others. Getting interested In the
work as IL went on, she next proceeded to
pick up u loose thread here and there and
10 push investigation in one direction and
another. Inquiries in this quarter and
that put a continually increasing store OF
fresh material within her reach, until. al
most without her knowing it, the task of
harmOnlzing and digesting stretched it.
self over decade and half and resulted
in work OF original value OF whose like
there are few in the annals or American
| history.
Mrs. Lamb has been for four years now
In charge OF the Magazine OF American
| History, which, under her editorship, mas
been steadily growing in influence and in
circulation. What used to be
periodical for specialists, almost
uns.5i1 the general public,
has become, without lowering the
grade OF its scholarship, by the
fresh life and energy infused into 1t, a
real power In fostering widespread In
terest In the field it cultivates and in